BOTANY. 



Dick, in his enthusiasm, had his head shaved, and a 

 cast was taken of it in plaster of Paris. He gave half 

 a crown to a brave little girl, and induced her to have 

 her head shaved; after which he made a cast of her 

 head in the usual way. He sent to Edinburgh and had 

 a phrenological cranium from O'Neil, the famous cast- 

 maker. Writing to his eldest sister, he said, " Mind, 

 Nan, that when you seek for a wife for Robert, you must 

 find one with a high forehead. None else are genuine." 



But Eobert could not go on looking at people's heads, 

 and studying their development. Big heads and little 

 heads, big bumps and little bumps, seemed a profitless 

 study. So he condescended to study more practical 

 subjects, things that lie at every man's door. He could 

 no ': grasp the heavens. He could understand the planetary 

 system ; but he could not unravel the deeper meanings 

 of the vast circle cf creation. He could, however, de- 

 scend to the things that lay at his feet, to his commoD 

 mother earth, which is as full of wonders as the stars. 

 He could pursue his first love, the love of flowers and 

 plants, which he had pursued while wandering among 

 the Ochil hills. 



Dick was still a bachelor. He had a house and a' 

 shop to manage ; and some of his friends advised him to 

 marry. His old master, Mr. Aikman of Tullibody, writing 

 to him in 1834, said : " Mrs. Aikman sends her kind 

 respects to you. She is happy to think that you are 

 still a bachelor, as her family is mostly girls." Another 

 friend at Greenock, where Dick had lived when a 

 journeyman, wrote to him thus : " My wife sends her 



